1. Field of Invention
Various example embodiments of the present invention relate to the configuration of wireless communication, and in particular, to the configuration of directional communication using beamforming training processes that determine and select transmission and reception directions.
2. Background
Technological advancement in very high-speed wireless networks for short-range wireless communication has been driven by emerging broadband applications such as wireless high-definition multimedia interfaces (wHDMI), wireless gaming interfaces, wireless high-speed backhaul and content distribution services, etc. Designers have targeted the 60 GHz millimeter band (mmWave) for implementing high speed and/or high capacity wireless networks in view of the abundance of worldwide availability of unlicensed spectrum in this band. In at least one scenario, standards for very high throughput (VHT) wireless local area networks (WLAN) that are currently under development are aiming at very high throughput targets over 1 Gbps data rates.
However, implementing wireless communication architectures in the mmWave band presents many challenges. For example, potential new radio designs will be substantially impacted by link budget constraints. In particular, when compared to lower frequency band systems, the coverage range in the mmWave band is severely limited by very high free space propagation loss, higher penetration, reflection and scattering losses and atmospheric oxygen absorption that will impact upon communication carrier waves operating within this spectrum.
The increased sensitivity to environmental influences that has become evident in the mmWave band may impact the overall operational efficiency of communication. Wireless signal quality may suffer due to, for example, unstable connections and the retransmission of lost packets may noticeably impact communication performance, as well as other systems relying upon these resources. As a result, any capacity benefits that could be realized by operating in the 60 GHz band may therefore be somewhat nullified by poor communication performance.